The Tales of the Ninja Coder

I spent much of this weekend working on my Kongōshu style, doing kata in the yard of Akane’s and my house in Hoshiakari. This style is an offshoot of the Steel Road ryū, which is a fairly complicated sansetsukon style in the Three-Headed Dragon school.

I was surprised by how well I still remember it. I was able to make much progress… until I ran into a complicated maneuver that I can see will be very necessary. But I cannot yet determine how to accomplish it.

Some day, I have hopes that this style will be useful for people carousing in Kusatsu — I am working on some aspects that will be particularly useful in the environs of that rapidly-growing city. But it still has a long way to go.

Akane says she remembers the days when I was a member of Clan Tenya. I would come home from my battles in Ōmi Province and have no desire to pick up another weapon for the rest of the night. Even on the weekends, I was too tired to practice kata. But now, I have spent much of the weekend practicing blocks, strikes, and swirling sansetsukon attacks.

She says this makes her very happy to watch.

Clan Noriaibasha has had very little for me to do of late. This is no hardship, but it is rather boring. There is only so much time one can spend practicing kata in the castle courtyard.

But tonight, I have found a task that needs doing in Iga Province, near to Hoshiakari village.

In a nearby town, a priest of Amaterasu is bedeviled by bandits in the woods near his shrine. Such unrighteous miscreants cannot go unpunished. I creep through the mountain terrain, hidden amongst the trees and bushes, ready to destroy them as soon as I find them.

It is good to help out my own province.

This is the kind of job where the gleam of light off a blade might give me away, so I am using a bō staff and a jō stick, one in each hand. I can stow the jō in my belt when needed, and simply use the bō for reach.

Ahead, I see some light. As I creep closer, I see that they have lit a campfire for the night. This will be too easy. I smile beneath my ninja mask, and prepare to throw a smoke bomb into their fire, the better to disorient them and claim the benefits of surprise…

Today, I am pursuing a mission of my own. Clan Noriaibasha knows nothing of this — nor should they have any reason to care.

I am in Kotobasatsuki, armed with my trusty ninja-tō. I am trying to track down a rōnin from Kawachi Province, who I understand has plans that would be bad for Iga. He’s been here for some time, and has taken the opportunity to blend in with the populace.

But ninjas are vigilant trackers and spies, as well as skilled fighters. I will find him. I must.

Disguised as a peasant, I too blend in with Kotobasatsuki’s crowds. The buildings here are spaced far apart, and the streets are often wide boulevards or even plazas. There is little use in taking to the rooftops. Instead, I must observe in inns and shops, keeping my eyes open for any sign that the rōnin has been here.

Where has he gone, and how will I find him? All I know is that I must. I cannot rest until I do.

I have spent enough time writing scrolls describing my latest set of kata. Unlike most modern fighting styles, these forms use the bō staff, and are designed for yamabushi to more easily defend territory against spies sent by bandits to test their borders.

I am now doing some scouting of my own, observing on behalf of Clan Seiinsatsuki. They are one of the small families of the town of Kotobasatsuki, but they also have ties in Seinikki town. Personally, I would love to see them expand their operations to Yumehaba, where I have been becoming more active... and perhaps some of the other, similar villages near Azuchi. Many people go to these villages to meet and mingle. If the clan could make it easier for me to travel back and forth between Yumehaba and Kotobasatsuki, it would make my own life better.

The Seiinsatsuki cannot afford to pay me — indeed, they don't even know that I am helping them at all. But I suspect I can find the man responsible for keeping them bottled up in Seinikki, unable to expand to the other villages. If I do, I can remove him. And I suspect that people may speak of it in Yagyū, where heralds come to find warriors for their lords. If so, that will be my payment.

It's tempting to just get this done quickly, as a non-paying job. But I should do it right. With a poisoned blade.